Halo: Reach Beta Preview

Dan is a moderator in our live community chat room who goes by the name of Guru_Meditation. As an avid gamer and radio personality in the UK, I knew he was the perfect person to review the beta of Halo: Reach I received from Bungie. Judging by what you see in this video, this newest iteration of the popular game is going to fly off the shelves when it is finally released later this year.

Halo: Reach is a first-person shooter game set in the year 2552, where humanity is locked in a war with the alien Covenant. In the game, players control Noble 6, a member of an elite supersoldier squad, during a battle for the human world of Reach.

Back in Halo 3, players weilded single-use equipment powerups that gave temporary offensive (or defensive) advantages. This system has been replaced in Reach with reusable armor abilities. Those armor abilities will stay with a player until replaced by you. Amongst the new abilities, you’ll find a jetpack, active camo, sprint and armor lock. Armor lock is pretty cool: it makes you invincible in exchange for loss of mobility.

If rumors are to be believed, this will be the final version of the Halo series EVER. If this is true, Dan feels it’s a perfect way to end things… on the note of the prequel. Halo: Reach is set in a time period prior to that of the original game.

Dan says that he’s read a lot of negative commentary about this version. Apparently, there are many gamers complaining that Bungie “dumbed-down” the multi-player mode a lot in this game and removed many strategic elements to focus more on action. But if you’re a newcomer to multi-player modes, you’re able to get into the game much more quickly.

The beta was due to end Monday night. Bungie released an announcement just a couple of hours ago, though: the beta has been extended! According to Bungie’s Brian Jarrard, “Our official plans as of now are to turn off the Reach beta on Thursday, 5/20 at 10 AM PDT.”

Dan feels strongly that gaming companies should step up to the plate and offer more beta games in this manner. It not only gives them a larger audience to help them iron out the kinks prior to release… it gets people excited about the game. Dan and I both predict that Halo: Reach is going to be a huge hit. More than one million people signed up for the beta on day 1, and the game broke into the top four most-played games on Xbox Live during the first week.

Thanks, Dan, for an excellent screencast and a fun look inside Halo: Reach. How many of you are now waiting impatiently for the game to be released this fall? Will you be grabbing a copy for yourself?

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